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Thursday, December 19, 2002
Fangoria dot.com reports that Stephen King's favorite director in the whole, wide world - Mick Garris (who helmed the mini-series The Shining and The Stand as well as the theatrical release Sleepwalkers) is staying close to his literary work source. First off is an adaptation of King's Riding the Bullet, which is set to get cameras rolling in February. Immediately after finishing Bullet, Garris will then direct the Stephen King scripted Desperation, which will either be a three hour tele-movie or two parter mini-series.
It seems that Nu Image isn't the only company with a fixation on mutant animal rampages. The Sci-fi channel is producing two bad movies that will have fans shaking in anticipation. First is WEBS, a thriller about a junkman (Richard Grieco) who uncovers a parallel world and brings back some of its treasures - only to get chased by a vicious spider-woman who resents his theft. Hong Kong editor David (A Better Tomorrow, The Bride With White Hair) Wu directs. Following that is BUGS, helmed by the one and only Joe Conti, which features Antonio Sabato Jr. battling mutant insects in a city's subway tunnels. Both are set to are sometime in the summer of 2003.
Why wait for Resident Evil 2? House of the Dead director Uwe Boll's next project is an adaptation of the horror survival game Alone in the Dark, which focuses on a character just trying to survive a night surrounded by the undead and other beasties. Shawn Williamson, who produced HotD, is co-producing the project with Boll.
Also, Jeepers Creepers 2 has been bumped to April 18 to 'sometime' in August. No word as to why.
Well the other night terror inspired movie, Darkness Falls, has a website to enjoy... so...enjoy! The book is available for those who can't wait. Also collectors may want to know that the MacFarlane toys doll in stores now is the discarded version of the Tooth Fairy. Stan Winston was brought in to design a different beastie. Hope this one is better than They.
Happy Holidays to all and to all a good FRIGHT!
–Chad H. "Chadzilla" Saxelid
posted by Christopher 1:23 PM | Comments
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Rectuma to butt in on the b-movie scene
Just when you thought you had seen everything something comes along to make you slap your forehead yet again. After experiencing the giddy delirium that is MONSTURD, I felt fairly confident that it would be impossible to top a monster movie spoof about a 7-foot poo monster. Well, it seems I was wrong. From the director of CURSE OF THE QUEERWOLF, POLISH VAMPIRE IN BURBANK, DEATHROW GAMESHOW, NUDIST COLONY OF THE DEAD, and BUFORD’S BEACH BUNNIES comes RECTUMA. Here’s writer/director Mark Pirro explaining the premise of RECTUMA in his own words: “It’s about a giant ass that terrorizes the country. A guy returns from a Mexican vacation, and his butt is hurting. It breaks off while he’s sleeping, commits some crimes, and ultimately, it starts growing and goes on a rampage, à la Godzilla.” If you think I’m making this up, you can read the rest of the story about Mark Pirro and his currently-in-production Asszilla movie over at Fangoria.com right now. Believe it or not!
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 1:15 PM | Comments
Theater from The Blob restored to former glory
A movie theater prominently featured in the cult classic "The Blob" lit its neon marquee Friday for the first time in decades.
Architects restored the Colonial Theatre's art deco facade using photographs from the 1958 Steve McQueen movie.
Read the entire article here. Thanks to reader Joe Littrell for the heads-up!
posted by Christopher 1:10 PM | Comments
Well, it could be good news or bad news...but Cinescape reports that Steven Spielberg has the rights to the Tintin books series and can "make as many movies as I want." Egad. Spielberg will only be producing (partnered with DreamWorks and Universal). Just what the world needed, more STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS movies.
Well the FX needs work, or so say the Powers the Be holding up the debut of Tremors-The Series. Fangoria.com reports that the show is no being bumped to a March 2003 premiere.
Fear Film Independent Production ( www.fearfilm.com ) has announced its next production as The Woods Are Alive. It stars Debbie Rochon as a pop singer recovering from a sexual assault, who goes on a camping trip with some friends. Sadly they run into a cannibal clan of sorts. Robert J. Massetti is directing from a script by Tim Ritter.
What movie do I want for Christmas? Well it's www.28dayslaterthemovie.com (or co.uk), Danny Boyle's freaky looking combination of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Simon Clark's Blood Crazy, with Romero's Dead trilogy, The Day of the Triffids, and The Omega Man. A biological weapon (natch) gets loose and drives the infected into a permanent state of murderous rage. The Fox Searchlight production doesn't have a set release date for the US, but it's playing overseas and the trailers and teasers make this look grrrrrrrreat! Check it out, this one is at the top of my most see list.
–Chad H. "Chadzilla" Saxelid
posted by Christopher 7:23 AM | Comments
Monday, December 16, 2002
MAID IN MANHATTAN actually out grossed STAR TREK: NEMESIS this weekend. It’s official: Trek is dead.
In much better news, it appears there’s another possibility of a pro wrestler making it to the big screen and, what a shock, it would cast him as a sword-wielding pulp hero. Here’s an unsettling tidbit from the screenwriter of the on-again, off-again and back on-again KING CONAN film - TheArnoldFans.com interviewed John Milius about his involvement with King Conan. Milius informed the site that, if he does indeed make the film, then he's considering casting wrestler "Triple X" as the titular barbarian's estranged son, Kon. While Milius likes The Rock, he doesn't see him as Kon. Vin Diesel is also no longer under consideration for the role." I think they meant wrestler Triple H. All I can say is thank God another wrestler may be making his way to the big screen because Lord knows we don’t more real actors taking away work from roided up musclemen.
More fantasy movie news or so you’d think. Antoine (TRAINING DAY) Fuqua is tapped to direct a new King Arthur pic. Unlike EXCALIBUR, this film will leave out the fantasy elements and will instead “focus on the history and politics of the period during which Arthur ruled. Uh, wasn’t this film already made more or less as BRAVEHEART? There is a reason why they refer to them as the “Arthurian legends.” If any further proof is needed as to why this will probably all turn out badly, the Hollywood Reporter notes that Jerry Bruckheimer is producing the movie. Well, at least he didn’t hire Michael Bay to direct this time.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to once again tackle his most formidable foe – the comedy. Assuming JUNIOR and JINGLE ALL THE WAY weren’t enough to make you never want to see another Ah-nuld laughfest, then you’ll wanna rush right out and see LAST CHANCE when it opens. The Austrian beefcake plays a dedicated hitman who travels to a tropical island resort to terminate his latest target, to be played by Cedric The Entertainer, only to end up taking a much needed vacation and becoming new best friends with his target after the man unwittingly saves his life. Sounds like Mr. Schwarzenegger saw THE WHOLE NINE YARDS and then instructed his agent to find him a script like that.
Creature Corner reports that there’s another killer clown movie in the works, but unfortunately its not of the outer space variety. This one is called JESTER so you can guess what the psycho funnyman will look like. However, the funniest thing of all is that JESTER is going to be directed by Stephen Furst aka Flounder in NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE. Filming begins next year in Budapest.
The Sci-Fi Channel has pushed the debut of TREMORS: THE SERIES back to March so that they’ll have more time to complete the effects. Considering the fact that they’re trying to stretch the TREMORS premise into a weekly series, I really hope they put as much work into the scripts.
I think we can pretty safely say that 2002 will go down in the history books as a record year for direct-to-video movies about killer animals. Well, 2003 looks to be no different. In addition to the previously discusses LEECHES, we can now look forward to STINGERS hitting video store shelves this coming April. As if TAIL STING didn’t give you a big enough fill of giant scorpions, STINGERS will feature 6-foot killer scorpions. Fangoria tells us that this one will be “extremely gory.” For the record, the biggest name star of the movie is Brinke Stevens. That alone should tell you that this one is going to have a very miniscule budget.
To end the news on a positive note, THE HOT CHICK flopped this past weekend so perhaps there is still hope for mankind.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 7:30 AM | Comments
Well I'm sure it's no Hot Chick, but I have to say that Star Trek: Nemesis was easily the worst Star Trek experience I've had in a movie theater. That's probably because I didn't see Star Trek V at a cinema, but it still beat the pants off Undiscovered Country and Generations for sheer ridiculousness. However, that didn't stop it from earning the number two spot in the box office race this weekend, with $18.8 million, just a smidge behind Maid in Manhattan ($19 million), the oh-so-safe Pretty Woman retread (she's a hotel maid, not a hooker? where's the fun in that?). That these two films were the top-grossing movies this week not only proves that Hollywood has run out of ideas, it also lets us know that the American movie-watching populace hasn't noticed – or doesn't care.
At least we can look forward to The Two Towers this coming week.
By the way, The Hot Chick was the number four film this week with a $7.5 million draw.
–Chris H.
posted by Christopher 6:18 AM | Comments
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